You Must Fall In Love

Chapter Four

Stagport International Airport was larger, crasser, and much colder than Changi Airport. As Christine pushed her luggage-loaded trolley through the Arrival doors, clutching her jacketed arms and backpack straps in dismay, she glanced around, trying to look for any signs that she was in America at last — America, the Land of Capitalism, Hollywood, and Standard English.

There was a McDonalds', a Starbucks and a Krispy Kreme. Just like every mall in Singapore. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, really.

More importantly, there wasn't even any Jen.

"Oh my God."

The woman behind her pushed right past, giving her a dirty look. Christine glared back, then realized that she was standing in the middle of the double doors.

"Okay, you win," she muttered, trying to shift to the side and creaking precariously. "Who needs Jen, anyway?"

You do.

The first place she headed was the restroom, mostly to get the taste of stale airplane out of her mouth. After rinsing her mouth out and dabbing her face to some semblance of non-oily pinkness, she rubbed herself, shivered at the chill, and thought hard.

Don't panic. Don't panic. You should have planned for this.

But she hadn't planned for this, because Christine's solution to most problems was simply not thinking about them at all. Somewhere in the back of her head, she had convinced herself that it would all work out somehow, that Jen would consider it important enough to come over here and show her where everything was and how American airports worked, because Jennifer Millicent Travers knew that Christine Lam Siew-Fong had never set foot outside of Singapore in her entire life.

Right?

Right.

She needed a SIM card first, but she didn't want to get a traveler plan. Maybe there was free airport WiFi?

It was at this point that she walked out of the restroom, looked around, and realized that her luggage trolley was gone.

"What..."

Her eyes went wide. She shook her head and rubbed her cheeks in disbelief, blinking and blinking, as if an errant eyelash-twitch might somehow resurrect all her clothes, her documents, and most of her net worth.

"This... this can't be happening."

Why did you leave it outside, then, blur-queen?

Because she'd been racking her brains! About Jen!

Well, Jen still has her bodily possessions!

Christine fought the urge to swear aloud, hit something, or freak out completely. But since she always freaked out when things went wrong, the difference being merely a matter of degree, she settled for turning on her heel and jamming her forehead against the shiny marble wall, cheeks nestled between the puffy folds of her jacket sleeves.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she whisper-screamed, the noise sputtering into a faint vocal fizzle as it skimmed the surface of the real world. Following that, she pulled her backpack off, unzipped every zip there was, and began to hunt for her wallet.

No wallet. Not yet. But it was okay. If she could just get her wallet, she could buy a traveler's SIM and call Jen. Money solved problems. If not, she could just get her phone and Skype Jen. The Internet solved problems.

Money. Internet. Money. Internet. Not me. Money, Internet, oh God...

Christine repeated the stupid mantra until at last, she admitted to her disbelieving brain that her wallet was nowhere to be found. She reached for her pocket and pulled out her phone, in a final attempt to save herself.

She reached for her pocket and pulled out her phone.

But there was no phone.

Her pocket was empty.